Pete Lawrie - Video

Pete Lawrie is a singer songwriter from Wales whose new EP 'All That We Keep' is released on August 16th 2010. Over the summer Pete and his drummer Elliot were set a challenge to travel from the UK to Spain in their campervan. Check out their travel diary and see how the pair got on.

Pete Explains 'When I would go on summer trips as a child, they were not a disaster. I think that the rose tinted spectacles of youth may play a part in my memories but I could swear that there was never a cloud in the sky and animals of all kinds would drink together at the lake. Well not quite, but you see the point.'

'In the last two years, My drummer Elliot and I have attempted countless times to travel the world nomadically. Before we left for America we had schoolboy visions of Ford Mustangs on the 101, motels and Vegas. Our reality was Miami, lost luggage and intimidation at the hands of the local Hispanic 'Gangbangers'. Our most recent trip was no exception. Following an amazing weekend at the Isle of Wight festival, our plan was to drive our camper van along the South West Coast of France and busk to Surfertypes, in Surfertowns. Nope. France was a rainswept ghost town. We got lost, we broke down and we drove literally from top to bottom in search of our lazy Californian dream. It wasn't until we reached the mountains that bridge France and Spain until we saw the sun. We were hysterical with joy. Spending four days and nights in a camper van not dissimilar to moving airing cupboard will eventually evoke such emotions. Cabin Fever. The drive therein, was a joy. Through the Pyrenees, across lakes, over mountains, tunnels through the middle of mountains. Incredible scenery and an emotional return of good fortune....That night we were robbed blind in Barcelona, mugged whilst we slept. We lost it all. Our money, our camera (with three days of Pyrenees good fortune footage) and most of all, we lost our hope. A man without hope has nothing and for a while, we felt like just sitting on the side of the road until someone else got us home. We were catatonic with frustration. This was to be our summer road trip and it was becoming all too similar to our ill fated American expedition. When I look back at the footage now, the footage that I managed to salvage from the rubble, I realise, much like the American trip, that in fact, amongst all the chaos and the bad luck, we, like we always try to do, had a blast. How, indeed, could I complain?'